Seattle Mariners ace James Paxton was pulled in the first inning after being hit by a line drive and replaced by Felix Hernandez. Paxton allowed a leadoff home run to Oakland’s Marcus Semien and struck out Matt Chapman before Jed Lowrie lined a 2-1 pitch back up the middle. The ball appeared to hit Paxton on or near his pitching arm. Hernandez quickly began warming up to make his first career relief appearance following 398 starts.

Robinson Cano’s eagerly-anticipated return from his suspension could spark the Mariners to a playoff push. Or it could mess up their chemistry. It also begs many questions: Where will be play? Will he show any rust? Will Servais be able to reintegrate him?

OAKLAND, Calif. – Jed Lowrie drove in four runs to back Sean Manaea and the Oakland Athletics held off a late Seattle rally to beat the Mariners 7-6 on Monday night in a matchup of A.L. West contenders. Manaea (11-8) pitched into the eighth and bounced back from a season-low 2 2/3 innings against the Dodgers his last time out.

Ryon Healy hit a tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning, Mitch Haniger delivered an RBI double in the 10th and the Seattle Mariners beat Houston 4-3 Sunday to sweep a four-game series from the A.L. West-leading Astros.

As if the Seattle Mariners didn’t have enough to deal with on the field, off-field issues with their two stars and highest paid players will complicate anything the team does the rest of the way.

After defeating Justin Verlander on Thursday, besting Gerrit Cole on Friday, Seattle did just enough against right-hander Charlie Morton on Saturday to pull out a 3-2 victory over Houston.

In back-to-back games, the Mariners have handed defeats to Houston’s All-Star starting pitchers — Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.

For the first time since his illustrious career began back on August 5, 2005 in Detroit to make his big league debut, Felix Hernandez has been removed from the Mariners’s starting rotation because of ineffectiveness.

Mitch Haniger homered while Seattle jumped on Justin Verlander for six runs in two innings, and the Mariners beat the Houston Astros 8-6. Haniger, Denard Span and Jean Segura combined for 10 hits and seven RBIs with a homer each off Verlander. Verlander was ejected for arguing a balk call after setting a season high for runs allowed. He failed hard in his bid for his 200th career victory.

Joey Gallo homered twice and drove in four runs, Yovani Gallardo won his fourth straight start and the Texas Rangers held off the Seattle Mariners 11-7 on Wednesday.

In perhaps his last start for the Mariners for the foreseeable future, Felix Hernandez allowed 11 runs, seven earned, thanks to errors by Kyle Seager.